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September 21, 2020 Thai Enquirer Summary Political News • The

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September 21, 2020 Thai Enquirer Summary Political News • The September 21, 2020 Thai Enquirer Summary Political News The student movement that gathered in Bangkok over the weekend despite the downpour ended peacefully yesterday noon with the students placing a plaque in Sanam Luang to mark their protest movement. But by this morning the plaque that was placed in the grounds of Sanam Luang had gone missing similar to the plaque of the 1932 revolution that marked the change from absolute to constitutional monarchy in Thailand. The plaque of 1932 revolution went missing in 2017 with all the CCTV around the Royal Plaza area going off at the same time and the authorities could not find who took the 1932 plaque. It is likely that all the CCTV around Sanam Luang is likely have ‘technical’ problems as well during this time. The number of people attending the protest ranged from 30,000 to 200,000 The Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) has estimated the number to be from 30-35,000 The police present at the protest site have said it was around 70-75,000 The media estimated it to be around 100,000 The protest leaders announced on stage that there were 200,000 people who were present at the event. After the sudden end of the protest movement the leaders have called for A protest movement on September 24th A boycott and a general strike on October 14th A boycott of Siam Commercial Bank Plc by closing and burning the passbook Protest leader Parit “Penguin” Chivarak, a core member of the Free Youth group, declared a victory after saying Royal Guard police had agreed to pass on their demands to police headquarters. “The biggest victory of all is that ordinary people like us can submit a letter to the monarchy,” Parit Chiwarak, a protest leader, told crowds, before announcing further action to step up pressure on the establishment. Another activist, Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, said their demands do not propose getting rid of the monarchy. “They are proposals with good intentions to make the institution of the monarchy remain graciously above the people under democratic rule.” Parit told the crowd that the next protest would be on September 24 in front of Parliament to protest any charter amendment that neglects to reform provisions on the monarchy’s powers and a general strike on October 14, the anniversary of the 1973 student uprising, and for people to withdraw their money from Siam Commercial Bank (SCB). “Get all your money out and burn your bank book,” Parit said, calling on Thais to take October 14 off work to show their support for change. Protest leaders handed over a petition to the Privy Council president through Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Pakapong Pongpetra outside the Supreme Court. In the petition, protest leaders want to modernise the monarchy. They are also demanding embattled Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha to step down. Other demands include a new constitution, the dissolution of parliament, and new elections. The police have said they are looking into bringing charges from the rally and the installation of the new plague. The protesters could also be charged for damaging the Sanam Luang ground for laying the plague there. Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) officials have been asked to determine whether the plaque is illegal and if it is it would need to be removed, Bangkok’s deputy police chief Piya Tawichai told reporters yesterday. Meanwhile, the opposition Pheu Thai party has set up a temporary office in front of the Supreme Court, across the street from Sanam Luang, to monitor the protest and to act as liaison between the police and protesters in case there is a legal conflict. The centre is headed by Somkid Chuakhong, an MP of Ubon Ratchathani. Surprisingly, the party dismantled their temporary office as early as Saturday (September 19) evening as Somkid said his team had completed its observation on protesters then and it found no intimidation on protesters by authorities. The party decided not to carry on its observation on the next day (September 20) and did not send MPs to join the protest. However, when asked about the student activists’ “sensitive” demand for reform of the monarchy at the rally, Somkid said he did not want to touch upon issues related to the Monarchy and said he would not join the rally, saying that Pheu Thai was there to gather information. Hong Kong pro-democracy leader Joshua Wong took to his Twitter to show support to Thai protesters amid mass anti-government rally during the weekend. Wong praised Thai protesters for their courage to stage the largest rally since 2014 to fight for democracy and their future. Meanwhile social media is also buzzing with those who have come out to voice their opposition to the ongoing protest by the students. One of the strongest statements has come out by Vorasit Issara or as he is called Wan Issara, whose family runs the Sri Panwa and Baba Beach Club. One does not need to repeat what he has said on his social media but I guess seeing it would indicate what he has said. Link to his twitter - https://twitter.com/i/status/1307693530303705088 On the charter amendment push, the government, opposition and senate whips are set to hold a meeting tomorrow (September 22) to discuss 6 constitution-amendment motions; Pheu Thai MP for Nan Chonlanan Srikaew announced. The 6 motions comprise 2 motions filed by the government coalition parties and 4 by the opposition parties. The Pheu Thai MP said he believed that the mass anti-government demonstration during the past weekend will pressure the Senate, which shows indecisive stance on charter amendments, to support the charter amendment motions as demanded by the people. The parliament is set to hold a joint sitting on September 23-24 to consider the 6 charter amendment motions. Chonlanan said he is confident that at least 84 of 250 senators would vote for a charter-amendment bill to pass to pass the first reading. He believed that senators themselves are not happy about the extra powers granted to the Senate under Section 272 of the 2017 charter which allowed them to join MPs’ vote for a prime minister. This is time to do the right thing and release that burden, the Pheu Thai MP said. Economic News The House of Representatives on Friday passed a 3.29 trillion baht budget bill for the 2021 fiscal year after a 3-day debate. The bill’s final reading passed with 269 votes in favour, 60 against and 121 abstentions. The proposed budget foresees revised spending of 3.29 trillion baht for the fiscal year starting on October 1, up 2.8 per cent from the current fiscal year. It projects a deficit of 623 billion baht, up 32.8 per cent. The bill will also need senate approval, expected tomorrow (September 22), and then His Majesty the King’s royal endorsement. There are reports that protest leader Parit “Penguin” Chivarak’s call for protesters to withdraw their savings from Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), is gaining momentum on Twitter. The hashtag “#banscb” rose to the top fourth trending hashtag on Twitter with more than 300,000 twitter users on September 20. SCB has come out to warn its staff not to wear their office dress when they come to work today or over the next few days amid fear of any kind of backlash. Meanwhile the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to answer questions by customers has also backfired for SCB after many of the clients sent messages to SCB to close the account and the AI responded to the customers AI of SCB says that if you need to close the bank account take your ID card and go to the branch to close the account . A copy of the response from SCB’s AI The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) pushed for a 9-point proposal, comprising mainly taxation measures, to help businesses and employees get through the outbreak crisis. The FTI will submit the proposal to the Center for Economic Situation Administration (CESA)’s meeting for approval on September 23. Five of the 9 measures involve tax reduction or tax breaks for businesses afflicted by the pandemic and those who help the government increase the country’s cash flow by stimulating tourism, according to the proposal recently raised for discussion with the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC). The FTI also proposed the government waves corporate income tax for small and medium-sized enterprises for the 2020 to 2022 tax years. It will also ask the Board of Investment (BoI) to extend tax benefits for another 2 years, FTI chairman Supant Mongkolsuthree said. Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) director Lawaron Sangsanit came out to deny that shop owners who registered for the new 3,000-baht cash handout scheme will face retroactive tax collection after declaring information when registered to take part in the scheme. Lawaron insisted that the scheme is not intended to be used as a tool to collect retroactive taxes from shop owners based on information they use to register to join the scheme. Under the new scheme, the government will subsidise 50% of all spending on a daily basis. The initial proposal required individuals to spend at least 100 baht per day at shops registered to participate in the programme. Under the scheme worth 45 billion baht, the government promised to pay 3,000 baht cash handouts to 15 million people to buy consumer goods. Recipients are required to register for the cash and the money will be transferred through the Pao Tang app’s G-wallet app on October 16 The proposal required individuals to spend at least 100 baht per day at shops registered to participate in the programme during October 23-December 31, 2020.
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